Linehan plans Olympics hearings at Council

City Council President Bill Linehan has announced four upcoming hearings on Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games to take place over the next two months. The first, scheduled for Monday, May 18 will address the International Olympic Committee’s 2020 Agenda, a guiding document that Olympic organizers call a “strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic movement,” which seeks to prevent issues with corruption, cost overruns, and so-called white elephants that have resulted from previous Games.

The meeting, hosted by the Special Committee on the 2024 Olympics that is chaired by Linehan, begins at 9:30 a.m. in Boston City Hall’s Iannella Chamber.

The four meetings will each address a specific aspect of Boston’s bid. “Based on the first hearing, the committee feels that subsequent due diligence requires additional hearings,” said Linehan spokesperson Paula Gates in a press release on Tuesday. The first hearing in March lasted nearly five hours.

“It is my intention to create a public dialogue, in a public setting, with those shaping the bid and those who have been elected to represent the people of Boston,” said Linehan in a statement. “If Boston’s 2024 bid is selected, each neighborhood in the city will be affected differently.”

Invited participants to Monday’s hearing include IOC member Angela Ruggerio, Boston 2024 Chief Operating Officer Erin Murphy, Boston 2024 Chief Marketing Officer Christa Carrone, and a representative from Mayor Martin Walsh, Gates said.

The second hearing will discuss Go Boston 2030, the city’s recent effort to create a transportation infrastructure plan. It is scheduled for early June, Gates said, but did not provide the specific date in the press release.

The final two hearings are unscheduled: The third will address the operation and venue development costs related to the Games and their impact on Boston’s neighborhoods. The fourth will tackle Back Bay City Councillor Josh Zakim’s proposal for a non-binding ballot initiative on the Olympics for the November 2015 city-wide election.


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